1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to controlling the power condition of an audio device, and more specifically to providing a motion sensor assisted auto-shutdown mechanism in a portable audio system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An audio player is an electronic device that stores, organizes, and plays recorded audio files. Personal audio devices such as portable audio players allow users to listen to recorded audio files while minimizing the impact on a user's mobility. Examples of portable electronics devices include, but are not limited to, cassette players, portable radios, Compact Disk (CD) players, and Moving Pictures Experts Group Audio Layer-3 (MP3) players.
Typically, portable devices are battery powered. A concern with a portable device such as a portable audio player is the battery life. To prolong the length of time in which the battery is operational in the portable audio device, the device may be manually turned off by the user when not in use. Some audio players comprise an auto-shutdown feature that consists of the ability to automatically shut down or turn off if the user has not physically interacted with the audio player within a certain amount of time. For example, if the user has not pushed a button on the audio player to forward to the next song or to increase the volume, etc. during a set time period, an auto-shutdown feature in the audio player will turn the player off automatically to conserve battery life. However, existing shutdown features based on user inactivity with the audio device can cause the audio player to turn itself off even though the user wants the audio player to continue playing the audio files.